10% of college grads believe Judge Judy sits on the Supreme Court

originally posted by: xuenchen
a reply to: MagesticEsoteric

Is it the Teachers, the Students, or the Administrators?

Is there a master plan to generationally "de-educate" the population?

The Media must be playing a role.

Working as a staff member at a University, I can say it is not the staff or the Admin that I deal with that are trying to De-educate the students. I cannot speak about the students or the educators, as I usually do not see their interactions.

a reply to: xuenchen

This is a reflection of not having high education standards and making sure students are learning the class material.

This is what you get when you dumb down the curriculums in high school. Instead of challenging students, they're catering on the side of laziness and apathy! It's all about keeping graduation rates up and passing state tests! What's sad is this is all being fueled by the feds and the state on how they distribute money to schools based upon their performance. Superintendents and administrators want teachers to make the curriculum easier so they can improve on poor failure rates, hence more money for their school.

Colleges and universities are also dumbing down their curriculums. Too many class failures are a poor reflection on the professor and the school as a whole. So what do some professors and teachers do? They dumb down the curriculum to keep their enrollment and passing grades up! They get too low, teachers can lose their jobs.

This is the sad truth in the American education system. Those teachers who have higher failure rates are the teachers who are challenging their students. They don't want to compromise their professional expectations because they want their students to know and understand the material in order for them to pass their class! They want to see their students succeed. Students who are not motivated to learn, simply fail.

You know...

My parents wanted me to attend a University not only to "get an education" but also (more likely) to find my future social group and a possible husband. I attended several semesters, saw through the bunk for what it was...(back then I was going for an Arts degree, but already wanted to be a cartoonist and didn't have the knack for the reproduction of the more "serious" techniques)...and felt it silly the rates were so high when I could self educate for a fraction of the cost.

*cough* Bradbury *cough*

Backpacked the country, hung out in cafes and bookstores eagerly reading everything I could get my hands on I instinctively felt had merit and worth to becoming a well rounded artisan. After all, I had spent 7 hours putting into my art every night after school anyway from Kindergarten up so, what's new? I didn't need a Professor telling me what I already damn well knew.

Fickle degree. Pricey piece of paper.

After eight years of travel, I decided to settle down and re-enter the University experience, this time, with a double major of Psychology and Sociology, and ended up dropping out - AGAIN - because nothing has changed, it was still a sham and the lack of any intellectual stimulation was oppressive and humiliating.

Then the internet became a thing.

Now, I study at my skill level at my leisure, not worrying about expensive overpriced textbooks, scrambling for grants or trying to pay back outrageous student loans, and am working towards tangible accreditation through an Honorary Degree.

Granted, this works for my Major and aptitude - not all learn equally....but the very notion of providing "free tuition" so Universities filled with students actively working hard towards accreditation and struggling through the ropes to be swarmed with a bunch of freeloading socialites who will never put their brains to use once "the free ride" is over is a nauseating thought to me.

It just turns a campus into little more than a glorified Day Care Center for "child-adults".

And we already have enough of a problem with those without those of us with aptitude and know how being overlooked because we don't have a damned piece of $50,000-$150,000 paper.

Stupid is as stupid does, but for most "soft majors" everything they need to know can be administered online and through social institutions (public libraries) and technological outlets already widespread and available for free.

The wisest thing anyone ever told me was :

"Don't jump right into College from High School....travel first. Then decide what you want to do."

Until everyone gets on board with a comprehensive Life Experience outside of sitting blankly in a desk in a box in full scale absorption mode, isolated from the realities of the World they're expected to enter into as contributing adults, we'll have nothing more than an endless stream of boxed in brains living woeful, miserable and financially devastated existences.

As WeRpeons stated so succinctly:

Those who are not motivated to Learn, simply Fail.

And the majority of Learning, isn't found in a book.

Socialization has it's place, but like I said, a University is not a Day Care Center.

We need a better option for those inclined to perform "armpit hair growth" studies.

Perhaps Government Grants?

Oh wait....that's called Welfare.

No one likes that idea, do they?

After all, we can't "progress" when such types are holding us back. Maybe we need more research grants to find a humane and viable long term social solution to this conundrum. Perhaps the answer isn't to be found in a "formal" University.

If any bidders are reading, I'll be in my office.
Watching Judge Judy.

I live in AU currently

if anyone showed me a picture of USA vise president or UK, AU deputy ministers or anyone siting in supreme court I wouldn't have a clue who they are or what is their name .. and I don't think I know a person who doesn't know who Judy is ..

don't worry that's not so bad.. there was a show at home they asked very basic questions random people on the street.. God I will never forget this one lady in her 30 was asked what do bears do for winter and she said they fly to tropics

a reply to: xuenchen

Actually such a stupid question, no matter how phrased, deserves nothing better than to be deliberately messed with.

a reply to: xuenchen

That means that 90% don't right. In case you haven't noticed America is stocked full of complete morons. I see them day in and day out.

a reply to: seagull

Here's a stupid question. If I ask someone for a couple of bucks back, how much should they give me?

I # you not five different individuals delivering me food in the last couple of months have asked me for clarification how much monies they should give me. Not a single time has the individual known that a couple means two.

a reply to: pl3bscheese

That surprises me actually.

In my fifty plus years (the plus is a not so carefully guarded secret.), I've never run into anyone who doesn't know that "a couple" used in that context means two.

a reply to: seagull

Yea, it actually freaked me out. The first time I figured it was just a goofy kid. The second time I was wondering what was going on. By the third time, I had started to wonder if there was some sort of conditioning going on with the younger kids (they were all teens to 20s) where by it was no longer politically correct to refer to a couple as only being two.

I still have no clue, but ... it's just bizarre, man.

I went back to the local community college last year to get some IT certs, and a good chunk of the kids were... not all there.

originally posted by: Layaly
I I will never forget this one lady in her 30 was asked what do bears do for winter and she said they fly to tropics

This is so very sad, but I just cannot stop laughing. Thank you for this horrifying but hilarious piece of human ignorance.

a reply to: xuenchen

If you can get into college without having general knowledge far in excess of what would be required in order to understand that Judge Judy has no clout, and know the face of Reagan (so that you know where to aim the bricks, human effluent in bags, and high molar acid), then there is something wrong with the applications process.

About the only individuals who ought to be able to access college without knowing these things, are those who have autistic focus on a given subject, or series of interconnected subjects. There are certain mental conditions which ought to gain one an exception from the general rule. However, aside from that, folks in college should be the ones in their town or village or district, who possess the most encyclopaedic knowledge of the world, events that happen in it, and indeed, in their own nation.

I would love to know a breakdown of what the surveyed individuals were studying. It might make for an interesting read.

Doesn't really surprise me coming from a nation that watches and takes wrestling seriously and is about to vote a reality Tv star billionaire for president.

Of course Judge Judy isn't on the Supreme Court. You think those justices would allow filming of their cases?

This poll shows a lack of civics education in schools. That is obvious.

What I find even more damning about out country is that almost 80% of adults in this country believe angels are real.

What does that tell us?

a reply to: xuenchen

If you think that's bad, 53% voted for Obama!

originally posted by: introvert
This poll shows a lack of civics education in schools. That is obvious.

What I find even more damning about out country is that almost 80% of adults in this country believe angels are real.

What does that tell us?

It tells us that 80% of adults believe in angels?

Who in this thread can name all the supreme court judges? I can't.

originally posted by: DMC71

originally posted by: introvert
This poll shows a lack of civics education in schools. That is obvious.

What I find even more damning about out country is that almost 80% of adults in this country believe angels are real.

What does that tell us?

It tells us that 80% of adults believe in angels?

No. What I am saying is that this piece shows we need to focus a bit more of our time and resources on educating people on basic civics, but there are other polls that show almost 80% of Americans believe in angels.

Which do you think is more absurd, that 10% of college grads think Judge Judy is on the Supreme Court, or 80% of adults believing in angels?

It's just something to think about.

originally posted by: Krazysh0t
Who in this thread can name all the supreme court judges? I can't.

To be honest, I cannot name them all. For someone such as myself that does not watch TV, it may be easy to get confused when asked about specific names and the Supreme Court Justices.

a reply to: introvert

Yea, I agree that civics education in this country is severely lacking, but misnaming a SCOTUS judge isn't exactly that high up on the "point and laugh at that person's stupidity" meter.